


Confrontation

by Passions



Series: Value Beyond Measure [7]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-01
Updated: 2014-07-01
Packaged: 2018-02-06 23:33:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1876680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Passions/pseuds/Passions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle and Rhys need to have a bit of a talk after Jefferson's revelation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Confrontation

Belle had no idea what she managed to mumble to Jefferson before hanging up on him and sitting down heavily in an armchair.

Her first instinct was to call Rhys and rage at him. How dare he not tell her he’d retired from being an escort? How dare he carry on the charade with her even knowing it was a lie? How dare he use her like that? Her stomach clenched and her eyes and throat burned with tears and she wanted to know how he could possibly do this to her, how he could treat her this way. She had thought he cared about her.

That thought gave her pause and she forced herself to reign in her emotional reaction to Jefferson’s statement. As she looked back on the time she had spent with Rhys, especially within the last week … he cared for her, she wasn’t imagining it.

What reason could he have for failing to tell her that he had retired?

It wasn’t for the money, certainly. He’d been taking minimal amounts from her even from the beginning of their association and he’d largely ended up reimbursing her for whatever she spent with what he bought for her, and in the last week he had refused to accept payment at all. And beyond all that, Rhys Gold was anything but lacking for money.

For easy sex? Perhaps. One could make an argument for that. But he spent so much of his time working on pleasing her, on making her happy - not just in bed, but during all their time together. And while someone else could say that he had just been fulfilling a role, she’d been there. She hadn’t thought about it before, but what she felt with Rhys was what books were trying to explain when they spoke of tangible emotion - she could feel his care for her in the way he touched her, in the way he looked at her.

So why would he lie? Perhaps because he was just as nervous about losing the companionship between them as much as she had been? Belle couldn’t fathom what exactly someone like her had to offer to someone like Rhys Gold, but she was willing to take a chance that perhaps she did have something to offer and that he had been worried about losing it.

Of course, there was no way to know for sure unless she talked to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took her a day to gather up the courage to call him.

He picked up immediately and she could swear she heard his smile in his voice as he greeted her.

"Do you mind if I come over?" Belle asked. No doubt he was expecting her to continue their recent tradition of daily calls to meet up.

"Of course, Belle. What time?"

"Would three be alright?"

"Absolutely."

"Good. I think we need to talk."

"Oh." She could hear the disappointment in his voice and she couldn’t fathom what he was thinking, what he thought she might need to talk about.

"Yeah. I spoke to Jefferson yesterday." She heard his sharp intake of breath at that.

"Jefferson?"

"Yes. I’ll see you in a couple of hours, Rhys."

She hung up before he could make any other comment. She wasn’t angry with him, but she couldn’t say that she was upset he’d be freaking out for a couple of hours.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When she got to the large pink house at the edge of town, Rhys was waiting at the door for her. His face was grave as he watched her walk up the path and Belle smiled, hoping that would help to put him at ease. It didn’t seem to work, his mouth was still a firm line as he held the door open for her.

She walked past him and into his living room, sitting down on the couch and waiting for him to seat himself. If his discomfort hadn’t been obvious before, it certainly became so when he chose to sit in an armchair rather than on the couch with her.

As soon as he sat down he stood up again, leaning on his cane. ” Do you want tea or anything?”

Belle laughed softly. “No Rhys, thank you, I’m fine. Would you please sit down? I promise it isn’t bad.”

Even still he took his seat as a convicted man might climb a gallows. He kept his head down, hiding his eyes from her behind a curtain of his silky hair.

"You spoke to Jefferson." Belle nodded. "He told you I’d quit." She nodded again. His hands trembled and his knuckles turned white as he gripped the golden handle of his cane harder. "I’m sorry, Belle. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to lie to you, I just - " He stopped himself and she could see his jaw clench.

"What Rhys? You just what? I’m not angry with you, I promise, I just need you to talk to me."

His head came up and his eyes sparked as he glared at her. “Why did you stop calling?”

Belle felt her own heart clench. It had hurt him when she pulled away. She hadn’t intended it to, hadn’t imagined she could have the power to hurt him in such a way, merely by depriving him of her presence. She’d convinced herself she was the only one hurting from it.

She sighed and dropped her own eyes. “My friends. They were worried I was spending too much time with you. They were worried that I was treating a business exchange too much like a relationship. They were worried I was getting too attached to you.”

She looked back up and smiled softly at the look of surprise on his face. “There’s a reason my friends chose to ask Jefferson for you for my birthday.” She shrugged. “I just never thought I’d ever be able to offer you something in a real relationship. When they told me I was getting too attached … they were right. From that first night with you I was way too attached for the relationship we were supposed to have.

"I assumed it was one-sided. I couldn’t think why it wouldn’t be. So I tried to do what my friends said. I tried to move on." She chuckled. "It didn’t work out so well, as you can see."

Rhys took a shaking breath and then smiled and blushed as he dropped his eyes again, this time peering at her through his hair. “I didn’t tell you I’d quit because I thought it was the only way I could keep seeing you.” He looked up at her properly and shook his head. “Belle, how can you want to be with me?”

Belle moved from the sofa to sit on the coffee table in front of him. Her knees brushed his and she reached out to take his hands in hers. "I’m sure I could list the things I like about you. But I think what matters most is how I feel when I’m with you."

Rhys cleared his throat. “And, uhm, how is that?”

Belle beamed at him. “Home.”

She could see his eyes glistening as he dropped his head again. His hands tightened around hers, his thumbs stroking over her fingers.

"Would you, uhm, would you like to go to dinner tonight, Belle? Or - or on another night, if you’re busy? Or something else, if you don’t want food?"

Belle felt the prickle of tears behind her eyes and in her throat, but she laughed. “I think dinner would be lovely. Are we - are we going to do this, really? For real this time?”

Rhys nodded. “Aye. If that’s alright.”

Belle smiled. “More than alright.”

Rhys smiled back at her and Belle felt her heart swell a little with happiness.


End file.
